The present disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, to a combustor section therefor.
Gas turbine engines, such as those that power modern commercial and military aircraft, include a compressor section to pressurize airflow, a combustor section to burn a hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized airflow, and a turbine section to extract energy from the resultant combustion gases.
The combustor section generally includes radially spaced inner and outer liners that define an annular combustion chamber therebetween. A plurality of circumferentially distributed fuel nozzles project into a forward section of the combustion chamber through a respective fuel nozzle swirler to supply the fuel to be mixed with the pressurized air. Each fuel nozzle swirler is typically brazed directly to the forward section bulkhead shell. Although effective and light weight, the brazed assembly requires replacement of entire bulkhead sections to repair each fuel nozzle swirler. Alternatively, the fuel nozzle swirler may be mounted to the forward section bulkhead shell with various mechanical fasteners. Although effective, each of the fasteners requires safety wires, which results in a relatively complicated and heavy arrangement which may also block cooling holes through the bulkhead shell. Blockage of cooling holes may further complicate these thermally challenged areas.